I'm a foreigner, but I really want to learn Polish...

"I'm a foreigner, but I really want to learn Polish [my girlfriend is Polish]. What are the best strategies to learn Polish quickly?”

If your girlfriend is Polish, you are in an enviable situation. For the first, let me congratulate you on your very wise choice of your girlfriend, Polish girls are the best. For the second, you already have the best language teacher in the world. Not only capable and patient, but also dedicated, eager to help, and totally free of charge. It’s a combination hard to beat.

When it comes to learning a language, let me just point out that there is not one single strategy to learn Polish, nor any other language for that matter. We are all different, both the teacher and the pupil, and the languages are different. Learning is all highly individual, and you will have to find what suits you both best, but if your mother tongue is English you already have an advantage. You will soon be aware that Polish, although undisputedly a much different language, has many things in common with English. For the first, there is the same Latin alphabet. The basic 26 letters of the alphabet are there, plus a few funny characters, like “ą” and “ę” with a funny tail, and a few others, that modify the original letter and indicate a slightly different sound to the original.

But in principle, the reading and writing should not be a problem. You won’t understand the content, but you will be able to pronounce the text with a little gentle guidance from the lady of your heart.

There is always a problem when starting with letters when learning a new language. Unfortunately, although the written word is easier to remember, it does not convey the real pronunciation, the way the Poles speak.

I believe that the best idea at the start is to learn the most basic vocabulary. Actually, when you think about it, in a normal everyday situation, people do not use all that many words. They talk about “having” or “not having”, “giving” or “not giving”, “taking” or “not taking”, “buying” or “not buying”, etc. Nothing very complicated.

The next thing is to start learning the most common phrases in Polish like: “I am, you are, etc.”, and learn them by heart. Also “I have, you have, etc.” will come in handy. You will be surprised how many sentences start with those simple phrases. “I am tired. I’ll have milk.” And so on. Once you know that much, you go on by adding an object to the phrase. You could for example continue by saying:

“Ja mam dziewczynę” (I have a girl) and “Jestem szczęśliwy” (I am lucky), which would both be proper Polish and also make your Polish girlfriend extremely glad. Remember, with ladies, even in Polish, possibly even particularly in Polish, flattery will take you far, almost as far as you might wish to go.

Flattery in Polish works extremely well, I promise. Next step would presumably be:

“Ty jesteś piękna” (You are beautiful) and you are on your way.

Continue by learning the most common small words. “Good, bad, little, big, very, etc” and add them to the phrases. Now you can say, “I have a beautiful girl”, “I have a little girl”, “I have a very beautiful girl.” You are in business.

Say “Ty jesteś bardzo piękna” (you are very beautiful) and no one will believe, that you are a learner. If you’ll also bring a bouquet of flowers to complement the phrase, you and your Polish might even be taken very seriously!

“Does not speak very much Polish, as yet, but he surely knows what to say and how to behave,” your future mother in law will pronounce proudly to her friends and family. “Give him another month and he will be making jokes in Polish,” the presumptive father-in-law will add without hesitation. “Especially after a couple of shots of real Polish vodka,” he might correct himself with a laugh.

This way, step-by-step you should be building up your vocabulary and improving your language proficiency without even knowing when and how.

There is no better way to learn the language than one on one with an eager and beautiful teacher. Combine training with pleasure and you won’t even notice when your language skills will exceed your expectations and match your needs.

On the other hand, if you do account any communication problems, remember - love conquers all. (I won’t say it in Polish, as yet, it’s too hard for a beginner, but it is just a matter of time…

MATEO

Don't forget about learning Polish swear words too .

That says it all.

mateo i am aslo learning polish

thanks for the words of wisdom i really enjoyed reading what you typed

i'll take all that on board< really informative

though the pronunciation can be really difficult

impossible in fact

thanks again

What do you know so far?

me eeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

i know quite a few swear words because they are easy to remember and easy to pronounce . i dont know why that is though lolololol

in fact , i know alot of swear words. lol

i know a bit of polish also. so some i just know how to say and not spell. as i cannot learn everything at once

i know

ja jestem doskonały > this is where i get confused because i have been told to drop the 'ja'
because if i did not it would look as if i am showing off. i am excellent

ty jesteś doskonały ( for a male) this is also something that is unsual for me. having adjectives that are male , female and plural.

on jest doskonały >

ona jest >i know how to say the female excellent but dont know how to spell it
ono jest> it is
my jesteśmy > we are
wy jesteście> yous are
oni są > they are ( males and mixed)
one są> they are( female)

ja mam etc

jestem dobrze poinformowany lolololololol

heres one u could say to me krysia>>>szybciej , szybciej ( only joking)

jestem szkotem

jestem doskonały w polskim ( i know im not but just beginner)
czy jesteś zmęczona krysia. ja jestem ( or should that be just jestem)

are you tired krysia, i am ( after 12am here) moja droga

jesteś miła dla mnie krysia

trzymaj się zdrowo krysia

jak leci ( this is easy one to say )

dzien dobry( this is also)

idę spać

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xxxxxxx

You are correct. it should be "ja jestem"

Wow. You know more than I thought. Who's been teaching you?

Do you mean one "ja" or two "ja"s. If two, then you just dropped your jajas.

I just wanted to say that i really enjoyed what you wrote and i two am starting to learn Polish and i have to say that out of all the bits i know in a lot of languages i have to say that polish is one of the more harder one to pick up. and you sound like a really good teacher and someone who has a nice way of looking at things

This is an interesting thread for me as i have just started to learn polish aswell.
i am english and living in berlin.
Ilived in france before that so polish is my4th language.
I agree with the comments about pronunciation but i just wanted to say something generally about learning languages.
Dont pay attention to things like "polish is difficult to learn",because you may start to believe that and it will become a self-fullfilling prophecy.
When ever polish people say that to me i ask them if they said that to their children when small....that usually makes them stop and think.
Learning a language is VERY like learning a musical instrument,i,e practice and repetition until it becomes second nature and you dont even think about where your fingers(tounge) are going.
especially,dont be afraid to make mistakes...be like a child who doesnt either and just wants to be understood...the finer points and the correct grammar come automatically if you just" let it flow" and keep your ears open

I always wonder why foreigners try to learn polish, they have business in Poland or like sound of this language. Anyway good luck to them, the more people speaking our great language the merrier .

i agree,everyone should be able to speak everybody elses language.

have you any tips on pronunciation.

where your tongue goes. i have seen people's post about where your tongue goes when trying to pronounce certain words.

have you any tips as i could not understand them.

especially > cz and sz

example hi and the number 6 ..
cz and sz

i will gladly drop my jaja's for you krysia

who's been teaching me hahahah

that would be telling

nara

OK.
Start dropping

hi plg.
its not difficult...get a recording of those sounds and just imitate till you get it.
i,m sure that if parrots can do it,you can aswell

Polish is hard but You can learn to read very easy, cuz You have only to learn few "litera" and go on, do you agree?

Riiiight.....The verbs are horrible. For every English verb there are two Polish ones, the tenses, all the conjugation....depends on gender in some tenses....and the consonantal mutations that occur on stems when adding the endings can boggle your mind

why is it that foreigners try to learn polish? in my case, a polish girl, the most beautiful angel that life have put in my life. Im completely owned by her and im willing to do anything to own her back. i found this page and i have seen in u guys the opportunity to take another step towards erning my beloved's heart. all i know so far is kocham cie, which means i've got a long way to go... if yall could help me with some other phrases to help me express my love for my baby will be most appreciated... tnk u poland, you rock.

I wouldn't act as if she ownes you, mexicaninlove. Sure, love is a great feeling but it should be mutal to grow. Here are some phrases:

I like you - Lubie Cie
Thank you for being nice - Dziekuje ze jestes mila
Good night babe - Dobranoc kochanie
I like it when smile - Podoba mi sie gdy sie usmiechasz

There's nothing more romantic than a man who loves a woman intensely.

Ha, my dad was half Polish and half Mexican... There's hope for you yet!

uuuh can someone help me with language too?

i know some sentences and.. the pronunciation of some of them.. but .. i need to understand how it works with cases ..word endings
i understand a lil polish and i m trying to learn it from by boyfriend and polish hip hop songs... so i think i m not so bad with swear words

help me more please

thanks for the tips mateo
i'm also trying to learn polish and I can surely agree when people say it's one of the hardest languages to understand. i've studied latin so i'm used to the cases and so, but you people take that into a new level of dificulty!
but i'm loving it and, altough i'm only starting, i can say for sure that is one of the most interesting ones i've learned!
in fact, i started learning it because i wanted to impress a certain polish guy, but now he's gone and i can't stop learning it.. that's how much i liked it!
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